By now, most Americans can probably recite the conservative arguments against the Senate torture report by rote. After seeing Dick Cheney on TV, watching the parade of vein-bursting Republicans on the Senate floor or reading virtually identical columns from the likes of Charles Krauthammer, Rich Lowry and former CIA clandestine services boss Jose Rodriguez, the […]

The just-release Senate torture report is so horrifying that it is difficult to know where to begin. To be sure, shocking revelations about CIA "rectal hydration," rape by broomstick (also known to Fox News and New Yorkers as "Giuliani Time") and other acts of state-sponsored sadism ensure Americans won't soon forget the term "enhanced interrogation […]

As the year draws to a close, the only question in Washington appears to be how--and not whether--Republicans will seek payback against President Obama for his executive action deferring the deportations of four million undocumented immigrants. While House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) and soon-to-be Senator Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) want to defer retribution until […]

After five years and $40 million, a declassified version of the Senate Intelligence Committee's torture report may finally be released next week. But in advance of its arrival, the CIA's former head of clandestine services has resurfaced again to declare the report "an egregious falsehood" and "a dishonest attempt to rewrite history." Of course, that […]

Name an issue, foreign or domestic, and Republicans will turn to the holy ghost of Ronald Reagan for wisdom and guidance. But for two of the biggest controversies in the news this week--immigration and torture--conservatives won't like the answer they get when they ask, "What would Reagan do?" After all, President Reagan didn't just sign […]

A growing number of Republican senators are suggesting they will block the nomination of Loretta Lynch over the issue of "executive amnesty." If so, then no choice President Obama might make for attorney general could possibly be confirmed by the new GOP-controlled Senate. After all, the next head of the Justice Department will obviously agree […]

Better late than never, the New York Times this week announced it would finally use the term "torture" to refer to the set of Bush administration practices euphemistically referred to as "enhanced interrogation techniques." But in ending one disservice to its readers, Times executive editor Dean Baquet performed another. By now proclaiming "the debate is […]

Five years ago, I described Dick Cheney's strident defense of detainee torture as a strategy of "mutual assured destruction." The former Vice President's gambit was a simple one. In 2009, Cheney dared President Obama to either prosecute him and other Bush administration officials over their program of "enhanced interrogation techniques" (in which case massive Republican […]

House Republicans have announced that constitutional expert and George Washington University Professor Jonathan Turley will be their star witness in upcoming hearings regarding Speaker John Boehner's proposed lawsuit against President Obama. Turley's starring role may be an uncomfortable one. For starters, just two weeks ago he co-authored an op-ed with Wisconsin Republican Senator Ron Johnson […]

In his recent CNN op-ed, House Speaker John Boehner explained "why we must now sue President Obama." As it turns out, the legal mastermind behind the House GOP's lawsuit "to compel President Obama to follow his oath of office and faithfully execute the laws of our country" is David Rivkin. Arguing that "Obama's legal end-run […]